US embassy cable - 05TUNIS1047

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TUNIS 001047 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/MAG (LAWRENCE) 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/18/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, KDEM, TS 
SUBJECT: ANONYMOUS COMMUNIQUES ALLEGE RCD DISCONTENT WITH 
BEN ALI 
 
REF: A. TUNIS 777 
     B. WWW.TUNISNEWS.NET/28FEVRIER05.HTM 
     C. HTTP://PAGES.ZDNET.COM/PLM/ID276.HTML 
     D. PLEASE ALSO VISIT WWW.STATE.SGOV.GOV/P/NEA/TUNIS 
 
Classified By: Ambassador William J. Hudson for reasons: 1.4(b/d) 
 
1. (C) Summary: Two communiques highly critical of President 
Ben Ali have been issued in recent months from a newly formed 
group calling itself the "Destouriens Democrates."  Its 
anonymous authors claim to be members of the ruling 
Democratic Constitutional Rally (RCD) party who are 
dissatisfied with President Ben Ali's rule, in particular the 
allegations of growing high-level corruption that are said to 
implicate the President's wife's family, the Trabelsis.  The 
first communique focused on accusations of corruption and 
abuse of power by President Ben Ali.  The second communique 
focused on the group's reform agenda.  Although some have 
expressed the belief that the communiques are fabrications 
disseminated by opposition activists in -- or more probably 
outside of -- Tunisia, many of our contacts say they seem 
real and represent a growing trend of ruling party antipathy 
towards President Ben Ali and his in-laws.  End Summary. 
 
2. (C) Two communiques highly critical of President Ben Ali 
have been issued in recent months.  The communiques claim to 
be from a newly formed group called the Destourien Democrates 
(an Arabic-French hybrid meaning "Democratic 
Constitutionalists").  Its anonymous authors claim to be 
members of the ruling Democratic Constitutional Rally (RCD) 
party who are dissatisfied with President Ben Ali's rule, in 
particular the allegations of growing high-level corruption 
that are said to implicate the President's wife's family, the 
Trabelsis.  The group's name is a play on the name of the RCD 
party, as well as the name of the party under former 
President Habib Bourguiba.  For the full text of the two 
French-language communiques, see Refs B and C.  A brief 
summary of each follows. 
 
Summary Of Communiques 
---------------------- 
3. (C) The first communique appeared in the February 28 
edition of the French-Arabic listserve Tunis News (Ref B) and 
also reportedly the March edition of the opposition magazine 
"L'Audace" (NB: L'Audace is published in France and 
officially unavailable in Tunisia, although some opposition 
activists acquire copies from abroad and circulate them 
informally).  The Tunis News editors appended a note stating 
they received the communique on February 28 but also 
acknowledged that they had no way to verify its authenticity. 
 The communique itself focused on two categories of 
accusations against the President: first that he and his 
wife's family were involved in a number of sweetheart deals 
involving valuable undeveloped tracts of land; and second, 
that the President had unnecessarily politicized the 
country's security services, particularly the Tunisian 
presidential security force. 
 
4. (C) The second communique was first published on the 
website of Embassy contact Neila Charchour Hachicha (Ref C; 
Hachicha maintains close ties to RCD elites but is often 
critical of the regime) and claims to have been issued on 
April 6, the fifth anniversary of President Habib Bourguiba's 
death.  Hachicha wrote that she received it via email from 
lesdestouriens.democrates((at))laposte.net on April 8.  The 
communique described the group's goals, which it stated were 
to change the focus of the ruling party from its current 
emphasis on accumulating/maintaining political power, back to 
the party's former goal under Bourguiba of helping improve 
the lives of the Tunisian people.  The communique was vague 
about the composition of its membership stating, "We are 
neither numerous nor few."  However, the communique said a 
growing number of ruling party members share the group's 
critical views on the Party, the GOT, and President Ben Ali. 
 
Views of Our Contacts 
--------------------- 
5. (C) Several of our civil society contacts across the 
political spectrum have raised these communiques in meetings 
with us.  They say the documents look real to them and that 
this marks the first time that President Ben Ali has been 
criticized so publicly by members of the ruling party, and 
could potentially be the biggest fissure within the RCD to be 
made public in recent memory.  But even some members of the 
opposition have questioned the authenticity of the reports 
and/or the size of the group that is behind them.  Most, 
however, concur that the sentiments expressed in the 
communiques represent real, growing dissatisfaction with 
where President Ben Ali has taken the country and the party. 
Contacts with closer ties to the ruling party, such as 
Hachicha or former Tunisian Ambassador to the U.S. Ounaies, 
generally have expressed more interest in the documents than 
members of the fringe opposition (Ref A).  EU diplomatic 
contacts also have raised this issue with us -- although they 
also find it intriguing, none have had additional information 
about the group and/or authors worth noting. 
 
Comment 
------- 
6. (C) We believe what is most significant about these 
communiques is the buzz that they have generated among 
Tunisian civil society elites that fall into the middle 
ground between ruling party true believers and diehard 
oppositionists.  The communiques resonate with Tunisians who 
have for several years passed around rumors of presidential 
excesses.  Regardless of the validity of the two documents, 
the accusations they make ring true to our contacts.  It is 
probably true that RCD membership no longer brings the 
guaranteed, lifetime perks that it once did, which might be 
sufficient to motivate disgruntled party members to publish a 
few anonymous poison pen letters.  What is notable about 
these specific communiques, however, is that they make such 
detailed allegations and seem to know the personalities of 
Ben Ali's inner circle of advisors, hinting that the authors 
have access to inside knowledge. 
 
7. (C) Some Tunisians give the communiques credit because 
they are written in a more literate French than is usual for 
opposition activists and with a decisive style and active 
voice that is more typical of power elites than local 
intellectuals.  It also would be a mistake to underestimate 
the significance of the group's decision to use the Arabic 
word "Destour" (instead of its French equivalent, 
Constitution) as a tactic to evoke idealized memories of the 
ruling party prior to Ben Ali's 1987 accession.  Tunisia 
claims it was the first Arab or African country to adopt a 
constitution (1861) and the ruling party's name included the 
word "Destour" from before independence (1920) until Ben Ali 
renamed it in 1988.  Although the Arabic name of the ruling 
party still contains the word Destour, most Tunisians think 
of the party by its French acronym RCD.  This would 
accentuate the way that longtime RCD members are said to view 
Ben Ali: as an outsider, since the President (previously a 
relatively apolitical GOT official in the Ministry of 
Interior) only gained the party's  support when he seized 
power. 
HUDSON